The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College: The Complete Guide to Everything You Need to Know to Getting into and Pay ing fo r College (1997) (Paperback)

~ Bruce Hammond (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Fiske, author of the well-known series of college guides, as well as How to Get into the Right College (1988), here teams up with Hammond to present an exceptionally useful overview for the college bound. Parents will certainly be interested (one chapter is addressed especially to them), but the authors are really writing directly to students. Information on everything from interviews to standardized tests, college essays, and financing is included, along with a handy "road map" of institutions, organized into such categories as "Small College Bargains," "Most Innovative Curriculums," and "Colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities." In addition, there is a selective roundup of listings by subject specialty--engineering, architecture, business, etc. Further resources, including Web sites, appear in a separate chapter. In all, this is a first-rate introduction that will help students narrow the field while still allowing them to cover the territory. Stephanie Zvirin

Product Description

Nobody knows more about college than Edward B. Fiske, whose annual college guide is consistently ranked the very best of the bunch. This book walks students step-by-step through the application process, and shows them how to apply to the appropriate schools, craft a successful application, make the most of interviews and visits, decide once the admissions letters are in, and obtain scholarships and financial aid, and more.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1st edition (August 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812927796
• ISBN-13: 978-0812927795
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,242,009 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best all-in-one college guide on the market, April 6, 2003

By	John H. Hwung (Fair Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College (Paperback)

Let me depict the most outstanding features of this book by the worth of dollar amount to the students and the parents:
1) Chapter 6 - list of colleges - worths at least $20,000 dollars. The discriptions of the colleges are right on the target. It takes years of experiences and observations on each college to be able to provide such succinct descriptions.
2) Chapter 1 - concerning liberal arts education - worths at least $10,000. Liberal arts education is the true enabling education for everyone, whether you are a humanities or science major.
3) Chapter 2 - Sizing-Yourself-Up survey - worths at least $10,000 dollars, especially p. 14 -- p.17, which explains the results of the survey. When you have answered this survey honestly, you can then proceed to find the colleges that match you. This will save you not only months or years of wasted youth (when you are in wrong institutions or majors), but also tons of money. Much more importantly, This chapter emphasized the most important concept in this book: College searching is a matching process. You are not begging the colleges to accept you. You trying to find the ones that match you.
4) Chapter 7 - Where to Learn More - worths at least $2,000 dollars. The authors provide a good brief description for each college guide publication.

The other chapters in this book are good, but you can find them in other college guides. So, in this sense, they are not unique.

Having read through a lot of college guides and done a lot of research on colleges, I can say that this is an excellent, top-notch college guide. This is an excellent all-in-one college guide. The value of this book far exceeds its price. Highly recommended!!!

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this for your college bound child, June 8, 2002

By	David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College (Paperback)

This book is a waelth of important information. I am sick of college rankings and this book is the antidote. It lists colleges according to the types of schools they are, their competitiveness, and their stregnths in various academic areas. This is much more useful than trying to determine which school is number 1 as opposed to numver 8. I really think that the way this section is presented can really help a student focus on which colleges he/she may want to investigate for a possible application.

There is good information on applications, interviews, finances, determining which colleges to appl;y to etc. An important decision a student must make is whether to apply early decision. This book is very helpful in understanding the early decision process and in detremining whether this woul;d be the best strategy in an individual case. SATs, ACT and preparation before taking the tests are covered. I highly reccomend this very useful handbook.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read, if your serious about finding a good fit., March 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College (Paperback)

I've found "The Fisk Guide to getting into the Right College" the best college guide around and I've read them all. It takes you step by step through the intire college sellection process. The emphesis is on "The Right College" not the the most presitigious or the biggest. I especially liked the sections titled, "The Case for Small Colleges", "Public vs Private", and "Best Kept Secrets". The section on financial aid is particularly helpful.